Rationale: The goal of this
lesson is for the students to learn how to read faster. As students
master decoding skills, they need to turn their attention to mastering
the ability to read fluently while not forgetting comprehension.
Fluent readers read faster, smother, and more expressively. By reading
and rereading the text, students can learn to read faster. This lesson
will help to assess and improve this skill.

Materials: two copies of several
decodable books (The books should be on students independent reading level.
Have the students read a page of the book and hold up one finger for every
word they do not know. If they have more than two fingers up at the
end of the page, they should find another book.), stopwatches (1 per 2
children), large poster with racetrack with Velcro on divisions, a paper
racecar with Velcro for each child, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric
Carle, paper, pencils

Procedure:1. Has anyone ever gone to a racetrack or
seen one on TV? (Listen to responses.) Do the cars on the racetrack
go slow or fast? (Listen to responses.) Today we are going
to practice reading fast like racecars.2. Why would we want to read fast?
I will give you an example. Read first page of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"
every slow. Now what could I do to improve my reading? (Make
a list of the students' suggestions.) One way the class said was
to read faster and that is what we are going to work on today. The
way we are going to do that is by reading the same book over and over.
I know that sounds boring but the more familiar you are with the words
of the book, the faster you will be able to read them. While we are
speed-readers today, we need to make sure that we do not forget about comprehension.
Even though we are reading fast, we want to make sure we understand the
book.3. I want everyone to split up in pairs.
(Pass out stopwatches to each group and the books.) Now I want one
person to read for one minute. His/Her partner is going to time them
with their stopwatch and tell the person when to stop. Then the two
people will go back and count how many words they read in that minute.
Next I want you to record your answer on a sheet of paper. The groups
are going to continue taking turns reading until I say time is up.
Does anyone have any questions? (Answer any questions the students
may have.) On your mark, get set, go. (Give the students enough
time to read and reread the text. Walk around the class and monitor
the students.)4. Introduce the Reading Speedway and pass
out the cars to the students. Tell them to put their car on the highest
number of words they got in a minute today. Explain how everyday
we are going to work on reading faster. Everyday you will have a
chance to move your racecar up if your number of words increases.5. Allow the students time on their own
to reread the book.6. For assessment, take up the sheets of
paper where the students recorded the number of words they could read.
Compare the first and last readings. Also walk around to the students
and ask them questions about their book to make sure they are still using
their comprehension skills.